John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence.
At a Sarah Palin rally, someone called out, "Kill him!" At one of your rallies, someone called out, "Terrorist!" Neither was answered or denounced by you or your running mate, as the crowd laughed and cheered. At your campaign event Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa., the crowd was seething with hatred for the Democratic nominee - an attitude encouraged in speeches there by you, your running mate, your wife and the local Republican chairman.
Shame!
John McCain: In 2000, as a lifelong Republican, I worked to get you elected instead of George W. Bush. In return, you wrote an endorsement of one of my books about military service. You seemed to be a man who put principle ahead of mere political gain.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Is Barack Obama a socialist?
Patrick Buchanan
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29302
Maybe Pat Buchanan would like to see us drop all those programs. I don't believe the vast majority of Americans, including John McCain, would. I'll bet McCain doesn't oppose his first wife getting Social Security and Medicare after he left her with her long-term injuries from a terrible car accident. He knows she needs some help.
Yet, Senator McCain insists on calling Obama a socialist. Well, if believing in the general idea of social programs makes a person a socialist, then I guess I'm a bit of one too. For example, I believe in public libraries where anyone can go in and get a library card and check out books and CDs and DVDs. I believe those libraries ought to be supported by taxes.
It seems to me that those who benefit the most from America's economic prosperity ought to be required to pay more in taxes, to "give something back" to the country that gave them the freedom to become so wealthy.
Here's a question for the capitalist purist who wants to abandon all social programs and give huge tax breaks to the wealthy: How do most rich people make their money? Do they do it by their own hard work? Or do they make their fortunes profiting from the labors of others? Another question: Do they pay a fair wage to those workers? If everyone paid fare wages, then socialism would likely evaporate.
Joan Kroc was the widow of Ray Kroc, the McDonalds Drive-In franchise founder. She gave away tons of money to various causes, including National Public Radio; and she donated millions to build community rec centers, etc. All of that is commendable. But one day it occurred to me: Why should she have ALL that much money? Why didn't her husband or she require every McDonald's franchise operator to pay a livable wage to their employees, who flip the burgers and fry the fries? That would, of course, mean less profits for the owners and the Krocs. But, instead of that, a lot of McDonalds' employees are living under the poverty line. Is that what capitalism should look like? Looks like a crock to me.
And what about Cindy McCain? Did she work really, really hard for her $100,000,000 beer distributor fortune? Or did she benefit from the hardworking people who staffed the breweries and drove the beer trucks, etc.? Why should Cindy end up with such a huge fortune, while so many of those workers were no doubt living paycheck-to-paycheck? It wouldn't hurt Cindy to pay more taxes, so that social programs will have more to help the workers who made her rich.
Patrick Mulhaney, a sometimes semi-socialist
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The mighty right-wing Titanic is sinking, and McCain is desperately blaming Bush. But the problem isn't the captain -- it's the ship.
By Gary Kamiya
... It's a historic shipwreck, and the American people are diving off the foundering GOP hulk in droves. In desperation, McCain has tried to blame everything on the ship's captain. Last week, he launched a bitter attack on Bush... the problem isn't Bush, it's American conservatism itself -- or at least the debased, intellectually bankrupt and utterly failed thing that American conservatism has become. For McCain to truly renounce Bush, he'd have to renounce the tax-cut ideologues who have bankrupted the country. He'd have to renounce the neoconservatives who led us into a catastrophic war. He'd have to renounce the culture-war attack dogs like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin who have coarsened conservatism's soul.
In short, he'd have to renounce the Republican Party -- and himself...
CLICK The Republican shipwreck TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
McCain's Panic in PA, More Than Just Ugly
Jeffrey Feldman, 10.28.2008
As disturbing as it is to see McCain supporters in Pennsylvania shout violent epithets about Obama, the sad reality is that videos shot at McCain rallies have become the key political symbols of this race.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Vicky Ward
... Tina Fey is a godsend. Sarah Palin may be a living nightmare as vice-presidential candidate - but unless you can see the funny side of a woman who sees Russia from her bedroom window, who sells herself as a hockey mom but buys designer labels and who fires her pesky ex brother-in-law over a divorce, then you are living in a destabilizing nightmare. And it's time you woke up and believed in yourself and tomorrow. You will get through this. Sarah Palin is a joke. So don't cry; laugh. Just don't vote for her.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Corporate media largely ignore other presidential candidates.
While the major-party race for the White House has been the subject of broad media attention for more than a year, the corporate media have mostly ignored at least four substantial third-party and independent candidates for the presidency. (read more)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Ashley Todd Fake "Mutilation" Exposed
McCain's Smear Campaign Will Have an Impact Long After Election Day
McCain has gone "all in" with a strategy focusing exclusively on smearing and lying about Obama, win or lose, he has created a dangerous situation for November 5 and the four years to follow...
... Robin Hayes, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, said on Saturday that "liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God." I have a question for Mr. Hayes: Barack Obama is a devout Christian who has worked his butt off to rise from a working-class, single-parent upbringing to graduate from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and then to forge a successful career as a community organizer, attorney, instructor at a top-ten law school, state senator and U.S. senator. And he is a liberal. Does that mean Obama hates himself?....
New York Times Endorses Obama
"The Nation's Future Truly Hangs In The Balance"
This is a truly devastating estimate of Bush's failed presidency, and of McCain's transformation into a Bush clone; and an accurate assessment of the character, gifts, and skills of Senator Obama. No one has said it better than the Times editorial board.Wednesday, October 22, 2008
HuffPost News
CC Goldwater: Why McCain Has Lost Our Vote
Being Barry Goldwater's granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I am voting for John McCain. However, nothing about McCain compares to the ideology my grandfather stood for.- Palin Clothes Spending Has Dems Salivating, Republicans Disgusted
- Palin's Qualifications Now Top Concern About McCain Candidacy
Tens of Thousands of Iraqis Protest U.S. Plan to Stay Until 2011 |
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
"Dear Florida": Five Ways McCain/Palin Will Make Things Worse For Older Americans
RJ Eskow, 10.20.2008
While McCain now lags in all age groups, he retains his strongest support among voters 65 and older.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Every year we throw away billions on a failed program to punish addicts -- an approach both candidates should know doesn't work.
By Joe Conason
Sunday, October 19, 2008
This movie scared me!
Somehow black and white seems best for horror stories, although you can't see the color of blood.
Colin Powell Endorses Obama
This endorsement, from a retired Army General, a former member of the Bush administration, and a Republican, is no small rebuke to Bush and McCain's failed policies.
Following the interview, Powell told reporters outside NBC's Washington studio that McCain "is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and a maverick approach to it, and he'd be quite good at it, but I think we need more than that. I think we need a generational change. I think Senator Obama has captured the feelings of the young people of America and is reaching out in a more diverse, inclusive way across our society."
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Roger Ebert reviews "W" (and George Bush's life)
Oliver Stone's "W.," a biography of President Bush, is fascinating. No other word for it. I became absorbed in its story of a poor little rich kid's alcoholic youth and torturous adulthood. This is the tragedy of a victim of the Peter Principle. Wounded by his father's disapproval and preference for his brother Jeb, the movie argues, George W. Bush rose and rose until he was finally powerful enough to stain his family's legacy. Roger Ebert (He gave the movie a 4-star rating)
Congressman Robert Wexler re: Bush & Torture
It was revealed this week that President Bush gave written approval to the CIA to conduct torture.
Of course, they don't call it torture. They call them "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques." These techniques were so severe that according to an article in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403331.html), the CIA desperately needed the written approval so they would not be prosecuted after engaging in this horrible and illegal conduct....
Friday, October 17, 2008
Take a break from politics
In a recent conversation I had about the coming election, a friend reiterated the campaign rhetoric that the “surge” in Iraq has worked, and that Barack Obama ought to admit that John McCain was right in advocating the surge long before President Bush made it a reality. Because I wasn’t so sure that the surge deserved such lauding, I did some research, and what I found was very disturbing.... (Click the title of the article, above, to read it all)
Tony Campolo is founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE) and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University.
- Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction
- Salon exclusive: Two former CIA officers say the president squelched top-secret intelligence, and a briefing by George Tenet, months before invading Iraq.
- By Sidney Blumenthal Sep 6, 2007
Report: McCain Using Same Robocall Firm That Helped Smear Him In 2000
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Re: Joe the Plumber
Not long after the debate, reporter Thomas P. Warneski from the Skewed News Syndicate emailed me with the sad news that McCain's new best friend, Ohioan Joe Wurzelbacher, has been diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder.
At the time of the debate, according to Mrs. Wurzelbacher, her husband was behaving as alternate personality, Joe Six Pack (who is actually Sarah Palin's new best friend). Because of that, and because he'd chugged six tall Budweisers, he wasn't able to recognize that any of the candidates' statements were actually meant for him. In fact, when Mr.Wurzelbacher heard McCain speak of Joe the Plumber the second time, he began to complain about the outrageous bill he'd received from a local plumber last month, and he shouted at the TV, 'You oughta' tax that damned rip-off artist and send me a refund!'
In addition to Joe Six Pack and Joe the Plumber, Mr. Wurzelbacher's disorder also manifests the following personalities: Joe Camel, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Cocker, and Joe Stalin. So actually, Senator McCain has six new best friends. However, SNS reporter Warneski could not confirm that all of them are actually registered to vote, or that they would necessarily all agree to support McCain if they were.
Third Debate: Verbal and Subliminal Messages
One candidate came across as confident but humble.
The other came across as over-confident and boastful.
One candidate seemed smart and in control of facts.
The other seemed smart-alecky and more interested in attacks.
One candidate appeared calm and presidential.
The other appeared agitated and desperate.
Do you recognize who's who? Have I exaggerated? Am I biased? Probably a little.
What do you think? Email me at patrickmulhaney@yahoo.com
Hilarious Interactive Website
Click on this link to see it, then click on various things in the picture to see and hear more:
PalinAsPresident.com
Jose Antonio Vargas writes...
"PalinAsPresident.com is arguably the most elaborately detailed spoof of the Oval Office's possible future inhabitants yet created. ... this much is clear -- the creator is no Palinite.
"Click through to the site and you'll see a smiling Palin sitting behind a desk, an American flag to her right and an Alaskan flag with a beauty pageant sash spelling out "Miss Wasilla" to her left. A rifle falls from the drapes, which brings the eyes to a framed photo of Sen. John McCain in a cowboy hat and a flat computer screen. Click on the computer screen and you get a stock ticker showing teen pregnancy up and the Dow down. (Keep watching the scroll and it shows war up and ice caps down.)
"There's plenty to click on -- and listen to, too."
McCain’s Mob
Click on "TruthDig" to read the whole article
Are we witnessing the re-emergence of the far right as a power in American politics? Has John McCain, inadvertently perhaps, become the midwife of a new movement built around fear, xenophobia, racism and anger?
McCain has clearly become uneasy with some of the forces that have gathered around him. He has begun to insist, against the sometimes loud protests from his crowds, that Barack Obama is, among things, a “decent person.”
Yet McCain’s own campaign is playing with powerful extremist themes to denigrate Obama.Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Anchorage Daily News vs Palin
Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation. She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part." Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
This headline made me laugh out loud.
Sincerely,
Patrick Mulhaney, former Republican
Vote for Pedro!
Another conservative for Obama
Eric Deggans
...I was heartened to read a recent column by Wick Allison, former publisher of the National Review and editor of D Magazine in Dallas; a conservative who says he now supports Obama because so many politicians claiming to be conservative have failed him.
It's an argument I've made to many conservative friends: Liberals shouldn't be the most upset with the way Bush/Rove-style Republicans have run this country into a ditch. That's a job for true conservatives.
We have the largest expansion of government in history. The largest budget deficits in history. The most costly war in history. And a GOP presidential candidate who still wants to hand out tax cuts in the middle of all this red ink.
As Allison wrote: "This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse."
FACTCHECK.ORG exposes misleading McCain ad
October 10, 2008
McCain cranks out some false and misleading attacks on Obama's connection to a 1960s radical.
Friday, October 10, 2008
McCain tries to undo what he and Palin stirred up
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R) takes a question from a supporter (L), who called US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama an Arab, during a town hall meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota, October 10. McCain urged his supporters to stop hurling abuse against Barack Obama at his rallies, saying he admired and respected his Democratic rival. The stream of vicious attacks against Obama, who has left McCain trailing in the polls ahead of the November 4 vote, was ramped up at the weekend by Palin who accused the Chicago senator of "palling around with terrorists."
Date: October 10, 2008 Credit: JIM WATSON, AFP
- By Frank Schaeffer
- October 10, 2008
Change the atmosphere of your campaign. Talk about the issues at hand. Make your case. But stop stirring up the lunatic fringe of haters, or risk suffering the judgment of history and the loathing of the American people - forever.
We will hold you responsible.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back." His e-mail is frankaschaeffer@aol.com
Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing
The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated.
Huffington Post details McCain's recent blunders
Patrick Barry: John McCain's Blundering Week On Foreign Policy
McCain's positions on critical foreign policy issues such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have been undermined by the assessments of our intelligence community, military leaders and his own respected foreign policy advisers.Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Rolling Stone on the real John McCain
Ouch! McCain's Housing Solution Is a Gift from Taxpayers to Banks
Jared Bernstein and Gene Sperling, 10.08.2008
That's right folks -- it's private profits and social losses. Instead of an effort to safeguard us, this plan takes from taxpayers to provide unjustifiable subsidies to financial institutions.
Read Post | CommentsConservative Brooks about Palin and Obama
David Brooks spoke frankly about the presidential and...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Silence In The Face Of Hate Makes McCain-Palin Unfit To Lead
Baratunde Thurston, 10.07.2008
... Everything we need to know about John McCain and Sarah Palin is summed up by their reaction to these incidents. Their positions on health care no longer matter. Their tax policies are irrelevant. Their talking points have been made moot. Not only do they bring out the worst in people, but they feed the worst in people. They are basing their campaign on painting Obama as a terrorist and monster. They are cultivating prejudice, racism, fear and ugliness.America has been down this path before, and it is the exact opposite of what this country needs right now...
(Click on the title, above, to read the whole article)
Arianna Huffington: The Winner of Debate II? "That One"
In Debate II, John McCain twice laid out the criteria for how the American people should judge the candidates: In tough times, we need someone with a steady hand on the tiller. By that measure, Obama was the clear winner. He was centered where McCain was scattered. Forceful where McCain was forced. Presidential where McCain was petulant. In the first debate, McCain wouldn't look at Obama. In this one, he referred to him as "that one." The contempt was palpable, and unpalatable. At the end of the debate, Brokaw asked McCain to get out of the way of his Teleprompter. He might as well have been speaking on behalf of the future: Senator McCain can you please get out of the way so we can get on with it?
Monday, October 6, 2008
But voters deserve to know that the failed philosophy and culture of corruption that created the savings and loan crisis then are alive in the current crisis -- and in John McCain's plans for our economic future.
We just released a short documentary about John McCain's role in that financial crisis -- watch it now and share it with your friends:
http://my.barackobama.com/keatingvideo
Voters should know the facts about John McCain's poor judgment -- judgment that has twice placed him on the wrong side of history.
Please forward this email to everyone you know.
- Saturday Night Live's take on the Vice Presidential Debate
- For video click here: SNL on VP debate
How would we get through this election without Tina Fey?
McCain's Keating 5 Scandal
The current economic crisis demands that we understand John McCain's attitudes about economic oversight and corporate influence in federal regulation. Nothing illustrates the danger of his approach more clearly than his central role in the savings and loan scandal of the late '80s and early '90s.
John McCain was accused of improperly aiding his political patron, Charles Keating, chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. The bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee launched investigations and formally reprimanded Senator McCain for his role in the scandal -- the first such Senator to receive a major party nomination for president.Click on this link to learn more:
Keating 5 ring a bell? Los Angeles Times - Sept 25, 2008
... despite his political near-death experience as a member of the Keating Five, McCain continued to champion deregulation, voting in 2000, for instance, against federal regulation of the kind of financial derivatives at the heart of today's crisis.Shades of the Keating Five scandal don't end there. This week, for instance, news broke that until August, the lobbying firm owned by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac, one of the mortgage giants implicated in the current crisis (now taken over by the government and under investigation by the FBI). Apparently, Freddie Mac's plan was to gain influence with McCain's campaign in hopes that he would help shield it from pesky government regulations. And until very recently, Freddie Mac executives probably figured money paid to Davis' firm was money well spent. "I'm always in favor of less regulation," McCain told the Wall Street Journal in March.
These days, McCain is singing a different tune.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
No matter how many times John McCain claims otherwise, the overwhelming majority of Americans will never see a tax increase under Barack's plans.
But you won't hear these facts from McCain, because he has been using his stump speeches and attack ads to purposefully mislead voters about Barack's real tax plans.
The crisis that we're facing calls for innovative solutions. John McCain's plan calls for renewing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. That's more of the same, and the middle class just can't afford it.
Watch our web video outlining McCain's backwards tax plan, then share it with your friends:
Barack's proposals will lower tax rates for 95% of families -- lifting up the folks that have been hurt the most by the wrong-headed Bush-McCain economic policies of the last eight years.
Right now, Americans deserve solutions that will turn around our failing economy. Share our new video with your friends and make sure they know the truth.
Keep fighting the good fight,
Obama Action Wire
11 Racist Lies Conservatives Tell to Avoid Blaming Wall Street for the |
Friday, October 3, 2008
Sarah Palin: no heart?
She might have undone whatever good will she earned with her "aw, shucks" Wasilla hockey mom ways, though, when she utterly failed to react after Biden choked up while discussing the death of his first wife and their daughter. "The notion that somehow, because I'm a man, I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going to -- is going to make it -- I understand," he said, after Palin said her experience "as a mom" helped persuade McCain to pick her for the ticket. "I understand, as well as, with all due respect, the governor or anybody else, what it's like for those people sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what? They're looking for help. They're looking for help. They're not looking for more of the same." Palin's response was ice cold: "People aren't looking for more of the same. They are looking for change. And John McCain has been the consummate maverick in the Senate over all these years."
"You’re No Harry Truman, Governor" -- Gov. Sarah Palin survived Thursday night’s debate, much to the disappointment of Democrats who hoped she would crumble as she did in her interview with Katie Couric. But she ducked tough questions, gave canned answers, tried to smile her way out of tough spots and cheerfully distorted Sen. Barack Obama’s record.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Biden's best moment in the debate
Presented with the contention that John McCain represented a set of "maverick" possibilities in governance, Senator Joe Biden offered up a spirited and lengthy rebuttal, citing numerous examples from McCain's voting record that cast the Arizona Senator in a decidedly different light.
[WATCH]
Biden: Can I respond to that? Look, let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And again I love him, he's been a maverick on some issues but he's been no maverick on things that a matter people's lives. He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget which put us half a trillion in debt this year and over three trillion in debt since he got there. He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He voted against including another 3.6 million children in coverage of an existing health care plan in the United States Senate. He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college, he's not been a maverick on the war, not been a maverick on virtually anything that generally affects the things people really talk about around the kitchen table. Can we get mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't make it. How will we heat the house this winter? He even voted against what they call LIHEAP, for assistance for people with oil prices going through the roof in the winter. So a maverick he is not, on the important critical issues that affect people at the kitchen table.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Frank! As A Former Pro-Life Leader How Dare You Support Pro-Choice Obama?
Dear Republican and Pro-Life Friends,
Thanks for the spittle-flecked emails as well as for the polite queries. Yes, I am aware Obama is pro-choice. Yes, I'm still pro-life. I also believe that with Obama in the White House that there will be less abortions in America than with the...
An Open Letter to All Republicans From a Former Religious Right Activist
Posted September 19, 2008 | 12:34 PM (EST)
Dear Republicans: This election all Republicans who love America must vote for Obama. A vote for business-as-usual and a continuation of the Neoconservative/Religious Right/ party of corporate American alienation is a vote against America. As a former Republican activist, I appeal to your patriotism and honor.
Unless you haven't...
McCain to Hide Inside Podium at Debate
Andy Borowitz | Posted October 1, 2008 | Politics
In an indication that he is less than confident about his running mate's ability to perform at the vice-presidential debate, Republican presidential nominee John McCain confirmed plans to hide inside Gov. Sarah Palin's podium during the televised face-off.
Sen. McCain had hoped not to resort to such draconian measures, but...
Posted August 17, 2008 | 04:43 PM (EST)